


when this is all over

by jellijeans



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Character Study, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Guilt, Regret, Spoilers, Tiz Has Some Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:28:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23284795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jellijeans/pseuds/jellijeans
Summary: There is so little and so much he wants to say at the same time. He wants to apologize for leaving her, apologize for inevitably leaving her again, tell her he loves her and he wishes he could spend his whole life with her—he supposes he is, technically—and also that she find someone better after he’s gone, that she continues to pursue her own happiness with or without him.It doesn’t have to be with him. He wants her to be happy regardless, but damn, it would be nice if it were with him.
Relationships: Tiz Arrior/Agnès Oblige
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	when this is all over

Tiz has missed this so, so much.

It’s the small things—just being able to run his fingers through her hair, the way the edges of her eyes crinkle when she smiles, how soft her skin is. The spattering of nearly-invisible freckles that graces her shoulders. Her lips, soft and warm against his, the feeling of having her in his arms after so long without her.

There is so little and so much he wants to say at the same time. He wants to apologize for leaving her, apologize for inevitably leaving her again, tell her he loves her and he wishes he could spend his whole life with her—he supposes he is, technically—and also that she find someone better after he’s gone, that she continues to pursue her own happiness with or without him.

It doesn’t have to be with him. He wants her to be happy regardless, but  _ damn _ , it would be nice if it were with him.

That’s maybe the worst part. That if he were another person, someone not tied to Norende and the curse of death that follows it, that he might have been able to save the world and stay alive to see it. That he might have been able to be by her side,  _ always _ , to hold her and never have to let go.

But the first celestial’s life was not his to keep, and Altair’s isn’t, either.

He’s thought about this frequently. Altair has been waiting for thousands of years and deserves this happiness far more than he does. Altair built Luxendarc from the ground up, is the forefather of everything in Sagitta, everything all over the planet—and he is a shepherd, someone who was supposed to have died three-something years ago but was kept alive because some celestial just so happened to take mercy on him. Rationally, Altair deserves to be happy more than he does. He knows that.

But if he could, he would make this moment last forever. Because Agnès is smiling. Because he is happy. Because Altair has vanished somewhere inside him, doesn’t speak out of respect for his privacy, and he can pretend like he’s whole again, like there isn’t another person keeping him alive. Because he desperately,  _ desperately _ wants this to be his reality.

“Tiz?” Agnès’ voice is soft, her eyes bright with concern. He leans up and presses another kiss to the corner of her mouth, relishing in the way her eyes flutter shut, how she leans into it just a little.

“Yes?”  
“Thank you.”

“You have nothing to thank me for,” Tiz says quietly. His heart tugs at his throat. “I failed to rescue you. So many times. I owe you everything, and you owe me nothing. I—”  
“Tiz,” she says, bringing him back to earth, and her eyes meet his again, warm and gentle and understanding. “You succeeded. I am here now, and that is what matters. Please let yourself rest.”

Oh, and doesn’t she know the bitter irony behind that, that he rested for two and a half years and intends to rest forever. In his lack of response, she slips her fingers beneath his chin and tilts his head up, kissing him gently again until the only thing he can focus on right now is her and all that she is, everything he’s ever wanted.

“Come back to Norende with me,” he says in a breath in between, cursing himself even as he says it. “Once this is all over, once you’ve finished whatever you need to do as Pope. We can go back to Norende together. Things can be—”

Not the way things were. Norende can never be what it once was. He will never again walk the streets he walked as a child, never again eat from the same apple trees he and Til once ate from, but perhaps it can be something better.

And Agnès can have—can have a  _ life _ . Can have something outside of the Crystal Orthodoxy, far from the temple walls that encased her for so long. Can have a life that is entirely her own, with no expectations placed on her by anyone. Can finally have the ending she’s wanted for so long.

“—Norende can be  _ home _ ,” he says, and he hopes she understands.

She pauses for a moment. He can see her grappling with the suddenness of it all. He knows it’s a jump. It’s leaving behind everything she’s ever known, but then, they’ve both done that once already, haven’t they?

And it’s selfish. He knows it’s selfish, that he’s promising her a future he probably—definitely—doesn’t have, and he knows it’s unfair to her. But they’ve gone through so much. They deserve to have hope, at least. And if she so chooses, Agnès can go without him. If there’s one place where she would be able to see him everywhere, it’s Norende. He built that town again from the ground up. He’s not sure if when he’s...gone, if she’d want to see him like that, be reminded of her guilt and her grief and her sorrow, but—

—maybe he shouldn’t have said that. Maybe this was a horrible idea, like everything is. Maybe this is another unfulfilled promise all over again. Maybe this will result in the Great Chasm opening again and he’ll lose her, too, on top of everything else. Maybe—  
“Once I finish my duties as Pope,” she says slowly, gazing at him directly in the eyes, “I will join you.” And then she breaks into a smile, and Tiz’s fears melt away. “You needn’t be so afraid, Tiz.”

“You can tell?”

“Not of exactly what you’re afraid of, but yes. I have known you for a long time, Tiz. You remain my most trusted ally.”

And then Agnès laughs, something soft and beautiful and golden, and Tiz cannot help but think that maybe there’s a way they can make this work.

And he kisses her, and kisses her and kisses her and kisses her, and only regrets everything when he once again feels the burn of the Holy Pillar on his back.

**Author's Note:**

> i think about tiz's mental state and decisions during bsel CONSTANTLY and i think you should too!!
> 
> thank you for reading!! stan tiz arrior!


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